State Sen. Barbara Buono is heading to North Carolina for the Democratic National Convention next month, but right now she has no way to get onto the convention floor when the balloons drop.

The Auditor has learned that the state’s Democratic Party — headed by her bitter Middlesex County rival, Assemblyman John Wisniewski — has not accepted her application to become a pledged party leader, a little-known title that gives the holder access to all the convention events.

“It’s a numbers game,” Wisniewski said, dismissing any suggestion that the snub was personal.

He said there are 101 elected officials and party chairs who are eligible for the 17 slots as pledged party leaders. And the recipients of the title are dotted with the state’s political establishment, including Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester), Newark Mayor Cory Booker and Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo.

Buono and Wisniewski are both considering running for governor next year, and the Democratic National Convention is widely considered a critical starting point for the race.

But don’t count Buono out of winding up on convention floor. “There’s more than one way to skin a cat,” she told The Auditor.

Flack attack

It’s been a rough few weeks for Mitt Romney aides with connections to Gov. Chris Christie.

At the end of the presidential hopeful’s overseas trip last week, traveling press secretary Rick Gorka made national headlines for telling a reporter to “kiss my ass” and show some respect for the Polish holy site they were visiting.

A few weeks earlier, “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough jokingly mistook the youthful-looking Gorka for an NBC page when video surfaced of him stonewalling reporters who were asking for Romney’s stance on immigration.

On the same adventure abroad, a top Romney foreign affairs adviser, Dan Senor, told reporters his boss respected Israel’s right to pre-emptively strike Iran’s nuclear facilities. The campaign clarified that Senor had gotten “a little ahead” of Romney on Iran, according to the New York Times.

Senor led Christie’s delegation to Israel this April, planning the trip and prepping the governor. Gorka is a former spokesman for New Jersey’s Republican State Committee.

Fewer bucks for Booker, Gill’s empty till

The numbers are in and fund-raising dynamo Booker has raised a whopping ... $32,000?

No, there are no missing zeroes. New Jersey’s most successful political fundraiser took in only $32,000 for his ostensible Newark mayoral campaign during the second quarter of 2012, new state election reports show. From April 1 to June 30, he raised nothing for his federal CoryPAC.

The lack of cash does not mean the mayor has lost his touch. The Auditor is told it may be that he hasn’t made up his mind about what to do next.

In recent speeches, Booker again stoked the fires of speculation by indicating he’d be open to a gubernatorial run or a bid for U.S. Senate. So far, his campaign for a third term as mayor has raised $1.4 million. While that money can’t be used for a statewide run, it has been used to hire political consultants. Booker and his staff declined comment.

The reports also show state Sen. Nia Gill (D-Essex), who knows she’s likely to face a primary challenge from Seton Hall law professor Mark Alexander, had just $2,096.13 in the bank.

Gill went against the Essex County Democratic machine in June and ran against the party-favored Donald Payne Jr. for his late father’s congressional seat. She raised almost $150,000 in that race, but finished third of six candidates.

“I was focused on the congressional, and in 10 or 12 weeks. I raised $148,000 in hard money. I am going to, of course, refocus on raising the money for the Senate race,” Gill told The Auditor. Alexander has not had to disclose how much he’s raised so far.

Matchmaker, matchmaker ...

Ever wonder who started Trenton’s famed “bromance” between Christie and Sweeney? The political cupid was none other than former Gov. Tom Kean, Christie’s mentor.

Speaking Wednesday in Aspen, Colo., where he politicked and fundraised for Romney, Christie revealed what Kean told him during one of their weekly meetings during the 2009 transition.

“Who’s your best friend?” Kean asked him.

“My wife,” Christie replied.

“No more,” Kean said, according to Christie. “The Senate president is going to be your best friend. If you don’t make yourself friends with the Senate president, you’re not going to get anything done.”

Christie heeded the advice as he and Sweeney teamed up for the things he brags about most, including the revamp of public worker pensions and benefits.

Kean, another Republican who had to contend with Democrats in the Legislature, was very good at making the Senate president his pal. He and John Russo, a Democrat, would often gang up on Republican Assembly Speaker Chuck Hardwick.

In fact, The Auditor recalls, Russo was allowed to work in the governor’s office when he filled in for an out-of-town Kean, often bringing along his beloved dog, Wacky. Kean’s minions would grumble about the pooch shedding all over gubernatorial furniture, but the governor never griped.